User reviews

After seeing the disappointing "Bounty Hunter" I went to see this movie with a little hope. I was wrong because this movie failed also. The story is actually in 99% of the cases impossible to happen in real life simply because there's no man out there that will be able to raise someone's babies after just one week of relationship. Second the acting was sub-mediocre. A large amount of over acting and such a clicheic story full of scenes that we saw over and over and over again in so many movies about girl meeting boy or boy meeting girl.

The movie looks just like any other romantic movie out there, the dialogue is so childish full of pointless advices, lame flirting and the character development really sucks. The soundtrack is worse... a bunch of songs cut and inserted here and there to promote bands and stuff such as because Hollywood loves these days just to make some more profit from these movies.

With all these, the movie is good if you wanna take a chick to your local theater and then just do your thing ... if not... don't even bother.

Zoe's a woman who has a hard time letting anyone into her life. She has a habit of pushing people away when they get close. She also wants to have a baby but because she has no man in her life decides to be artificially inseminated. Shortly after having the procedure she meets a guy named Stan whom she connects with. But she's still afraid to let him in and when she tells him about her pregnancy thinking he would bail but he sticks with her.

Most of this was pleasant, just nothing new, and recycled formula. Lopez is a charmer, but let's face it, she can do this sort of stuff in her sleep. I don't remember laughing out loud. The chemistry between O'Loughlin and Lopez is professional and solid, If nothing memorable.

Bottom line. Watchable, but just barely above the Mendoza line. Really mediocre stuff, and nothing I haven't seen before. Take it or leave it, your not really missing anything.

4 ½ 10

(Synopsis) Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has decided that she has waited long enough looking for Mr. Right to come along before she becomes a mother. Her clock is ticking, and time is running out for her, so Zoe makes an appointment with the doctor to become pregnant without a man. Within hours of the procedure, Zoe meets Stan (Alex O'Loughlin) an attractive and charming man who has caught her eye. Soon a budding relationship between them becomes a full blown courtship. Then Zoe finds out that she is pregnant after only one try at the doctor's office. She must find a way to tell Stan that she is pregnant without his walking out of her life. Stan is not sure at first, but he fully commits to Zoe and says that he is in. As the pregnancy comes nearer to the birth, both of them are unsure about the future and their relationship.

(My Comment) "The Back-up Plan" is a light-hearted romantic comedy that shows what can happen in life when you start a family in the reverse order. This movie is funny, a bit touching, and a family tale about trusting the partner you love and accepting the things he or she does. It is a feel good movie that lets the women of the world know that there are still some good men out there. The women in the audience can relate to the story, because it presents the crazy and tough times, and all the moments in-between that women go through during a pregnancy. Jennifer Lopez and Alex O'Loughlin had very good "couple chemistry" as the relationship developed. Be sure to watch the credits, because there are some hilarious out-takes. This is a movie that would be best seen when it comes out in DVD; however, if you want to see Jennifer and Alex on the big screen, go ahead. (CBS Films, Run Time 1:46, Rated PG-13) (5/10)

The film begins with an overly long animated intro that makes no sense, then, all of a sudden, the "action" starts, as if they were playing the scenes for a while but somebody forgot to press the record button from the beginning. I had this feeling, throughout the first half hour or so that scenes are missing. After that, I just fast forwarded to see if it picks up and becomes more interesting but it didn't.

JLo's character is self involved and immature. Her friends are caricatures. The whole film gives the impression, at times, that it's a parody but for it to work as such the lead actress needs to be much better. It's not enough to be good looking and have a good body. Comedy actors need to be good actors first.

The leading man is supposed to be completely in love, fascinated by this woman. The actor himself can't sell this idea. I don't understand how they cast such a bad pair. Everything feels really forced and unrealistic.

On top of all that there are a lot of gross scenes. Maybe they wanted to go for physical comedy but it doesn't work. This combination of rom-com and physical comedy makes both genres fail in this film, badly.

Skip it, if you can.

The date-night genre of choice, rom-com's, get another black eye. People have rightfully criticized stuff like Valentine's Day for giving the genre a bad name, but Back Up Plan makes even V-Day seem almost good by comparison.

Jennifer Lopez shows up, after appearing in nothing but check-out stand gossip news rags for a while. Along with Jen are a supporting cast whose acting, simply put, reeks. Jen is an uppity "bio-clock's running" 30-something who wants a relationship, plus a child. Guys flee in terror (they must have seen abominations like Gigli, Anaconda, Jersey Girl and Monster-in-Law), so she resigns herself to a single-mom future, and goes through an artificial insemination procedure. Just minutes after learning she's pregnant, she meets Mr. Right (a poor sap who hasn't seen her movies). A possibly amusing premise, but the writer clearly had no idea where to go with it. The story is jumbled, rambling, and has no clear goal. It's more like a series of skits with corny punch lines, usually mean-spirited in that the joy of parenting is grossly mocked.

The poor sap boyfriend and JLo have romantic chemistry about as hot as the polar ice cap. The weak scripting and abysmal direction may be to blame for their poor acting performances; it's not certain. The guy just mugs and stares blankly. As for Jen, she's kind to the eyes but grating to the ears: her line delivery is a patchwork quilt of sing-song, cutesy-cute, whiny, and condescending career-woman tones. At times, she appears catatonic.

Even stuff like Iron Man and Nightmare on Elm St. would be more romantic and funny than this is.

I really wanted to like it. I talked to Alex O'Loughlin about the movie over a year ago, I think. And, this was Jennifer Lopez' big return to film, after a 5 year absence. Both of their characters in The Back-Up Plan are very likable. She is a successful businesswoman who has decided she's done waiting for Mr. Right and a family. She goes ahead and gets inseminated. That day, she bumps into Stan, a gorgeous funny guy who has his own farm (note the cheese, above) and dreams of owning a sustainable food shop. He pursues her, she resists. All sorts of clumsy, weird things happen along the way. Honestly, these characters and their relationship is really interesting. It's all the other junk the filmmakers put into play that I found distracting and distasteful and unbelievable. For instance, Zoe has an upscale pet store with a couple of interesting employees who have realistic questions about her and for her, but we barely see them. Instead, we're subjected to a strange single mother's group that is stereotypical and offensive. It's like the writer and director are trying to straddle a line between a sweet rom-com, like Sweet Home Alabama, and something more crude, like Knocked Up. There were so many likable and believable story threads that were just dropped, in favor of the gross out scene or something silly that just didn't make sense for the characters. I didn't hate it, because I liked the leads, I was just really disappointed and not satisfied. I give The Back-Up Plan a 6 out of 10.

Jennifer Lopez stars in yet another one of her sappy, romantic comedies as a love lorn woman desperate for true love. She's a successful business woman who becomes pregnant with twins through artificial insemination. Of course, none of this would make any sense if she didn't meet the man of her dreams (Alex O'Laughlin) who practically falls head over heels after their first encounter. After a wild night of passion, Zoe admits that she has not one, but two buns in the oven and despite the big surprise, Stan decides to pursue a relationship with her anyway. Really????! Overall, Stan and Zoe deal with a few bumps in the road, followed by major insecurities, especially Zoe due to her lack of trust and inability to develop a close connection with anyone. Now let's be serious, There is absolutely nothing new or surprising about this movie. It's your usual boy meets girl storyline which reminds you of how impossible it is to take something that's far from mediocre so seriously. "The Back-up Plan" is a decent movie to watch if you can't help shutting your brain off for more than 45 minutes.

In New York, the former executive and presently owner of a pet shop Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has no boy-friend and only a couple of friends since she has difficulties to let people into her life. She lost her parents when she was a child and her only relative alive is her grandmother that lives in a nursing home and Zoe feeling lonely. She decides on artificial insemination to have a baby and to join a supporting group of single mothers. When she leaves the clinic very happy with the successful procedure, she meets the cheese manufacturer and college student Stan (Alex O'Loughlin) and they immediately feel attracted for each other. They date and Zoe believes she has found the prince charming and changes her expectation with the insemination. However the doctor finds that she is pregnant and now she has the dilemmatic situation: how to tell Stan that she is pregnant.

"The Back-up Plan" was supposed to be a romantic comedy; unfortunately it is a cheesy, unfunny and non-romantic comedy. The idea of "falling in love", "getting married" and "having a baby" not necessarily in this order" could have worked with a better screenplay. However, the situations and characters are too stupid to work. Zoe is described as a former successful executive but her character seems to be a housewife fan of melodramatic soap-operas. Stan is a guy trying to reach an objective in life through the study at night and Zoë's character has nothing positive to keep a steady relationship out of time. His decision of staying with an unstable woman pregnant of twins is absolutely unreasonable and never funny. The writer seems to be alienated from the concept and reality of raising a family. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Plano B" ("Plan B")

I don't get it why people so undermine this movie. It was indeed predictable most of the time but come on, there were many moment of laughter.

I saw this movie with an ex girlfriend and we were seeing many moments we had on our first dates and we enjoyed to see it was inspired from real facts. Many of the comical situations do happen in real life and it really gets to you when you see it from outside.

The main plot may be a little exaggerated, how everything comes together but it's a classic date movie and you cannot have such high expectations from it.

The cast is OK, even though Jennifer Lopez is a little overpowered by her role, but she manages in the end to pull it of. Alex O'Loughlin is the perfect "I don't know if I want to be a father but I love this woman" guy and makes every moment a real delight.

Everyone gives it a 4 or 5, I give it an 8 because you can have a blast if you watch it with your girlfriend or ex.

I first saw this a month ago, while really tired. Now I'm watching a 2nd time with a much clearer head realizing it's a decent movie to watch. Not much funny and a lot of ridiculousness. Jennifer Lopez's character isn't very easy to stay with things with the boyfriend. That was disorienting, but it's a sweet romance despite its many flaws. Only recommend seeing this once and don't pay for it maybe just watch it on Showtime like I did.

The times aren't easy for Jennifer Lopez. She still looks good, she might have a great voice and a killer body, but first her label drops her, and then she stars in a movie that's so terrible, it could simply not exist.

Let's start off with the plot, which is, I'll be first to admit it, not that bad. A single woman, gorgeous and sweet, decides to go in vitro, since she's always wanted a baby, and we all know how hard it is to find the right guy (apparently). And then she meets her prince charming, about 10 minutes after being done with the procedure. Fine with me, nowhere did it say that the movie has to be realistic. Other than that, the movie touches an interesting issue - when you're single, and you want a baby but there's nobody to make it with you, how do you make your love life and your dreams co-exist? But then the unrealistic situations start to pill up. All the funny moments are already shown in the trailer. And the movie itself, even though it starts interesting, gets completely out of hand - long and weird, making no sense, finally embarrassing and even disguising. The moment I personally gave up was when one of the ladies gives birth in the pool, poops while doing it and one of the women scoops it out with a fishnet - or was it when Lopez passes out into the pool and then, instead of taking a shower like any sane person would do, decides to take a walk? Acting is not even embarrassing - it's non existent. You'd think that after so many attempts to act, Lopez would finally learn a trick or two, maybe even become an actress; instead, her movie dog is better at acting than she is, or, I think it's safe to say, will ever be.

But the thing that bothered me the most is - aren't we all tired of silly romantic comedies packed with unrealistic situations that never happen? Cute, hunky men don't just get into the same cab as you, and then madly fall in love with you and decide to stick around, even though you're pregnant with a guy you don't even know. They don't drive their tractors semi nude. They don't make love to you in a barn full of cheese. That just doesn't happen, and I'm completely serious when I say that even Sex and the City 2 was far more realistic than The Backup Plan; not to mention, a lot more fun.

...I knew I was in for a long and gruesome two hours. When the doctor uttered, "I'm not looking at your toenails, I'm looking at your cervix," I knew it was all downhill from here.

What can I say about this movie? First, let's discuss how unrealistic it is. Sure, movies are not always meant to be based on realism, but... meeting a random guy on the street, having the guy be weirdly fascinated by you after having met for only what, 3 minutes, falling in love with each other, and finally, having the guy so enamored by you that he is willing to be the father to your artificially inseminated children?

Just doesn't happen! Lopez and O'Loughlin have zero chemistry. I never once believed that these two people who met on the street were really "falling in love." Their "fights" were hardly believable either and I didn't sympathize with either party.

There is also a birthing scene of another woman (not Lopez) to show how Zoe (Lopez) how painful childbirth can be, but this was dragged out for far too long. The joke was decently funny at first, but after several minutes, it's like... alright. We get it. Giving birth hurts. After several minutes, it's just not funny anymore and becomes uncomfortable.

Basically, this movie is a load of garbage. I give it two stars instead of one, though, because I would be lying if I said it didn't entertain me. The dialogue at times was so outlandish that I could not help but laugh. And nearly every planned "romantic" moment between Lopez and O'Loughlin made me laugh too.

But generally, a few comedic moments and laughable dialogue is not enough of a reason to go see this film. Definitely save your money and stay far far away from this one.

The most difficult thing about story telling is the ending, especially so in a movie script. Now I am not going to reveal anything about the ending of this film except to say the last sixty seconds or so is very cleverly worked, and I am not speaking of the crazy credit outtakes.

So what about the beginning and middle? The plot setting and cast introduction is well worked with the main leads giving energetic and enjoyable performances throughout. I am not going to agree with those who may feel the single mum group is a mistake since the film is a comedy, and there is plenty of comedy within the group even if it may offend some. But I do feel as if the idea of the group was a filler which may have gotten out of control - no real back-up plan perhaps.

The film overall is entertaining and although the idea of "insemination" is not as fully explored as it could have been because of where and how the film begins, I feel it does what it says on the tin and ends very well indeed.

So I liked it, and whilst it is not a must see movie it is certainly worth watching. Six out of ten and a star for Ms Lopez for doing such wonderful things with some stew and half a loaf of bread.

"The Back-up Plan" is your usual romantic comedy. I tend to like most romantic comedies so it worked for me.

I think it was a good choice for Jennifer Lopez. With such a beautiful feminine figure, I would prefer to see her as the romantic lead as opposed to most other Hollywood actresses found in these types of roles today. Alex O'Loughlin is a relative new-comer; I found him very handsome and charming.

Although this film offers almost nothing new, at least they tried to give the characters careers that you don't see in every other movie, especially for O'Loughlin's character. I appreciated that. They also added a group of single mothers, the stellar actresses went above and beyond and gave me something to remember the film by.

The jokes for the most part are tried-and-true. You may not laugh all that much, but if you like the romance in romantic comedies, then you will probably like "The Back-up Plan".

This movie is really cute and lighthearted. Yes, it's sort of predictable- but to some extent, that's how a lot of movies are. With that said, it's not cheesy or boring. It provides just enough laughs with just enough romance. I think a lot of women will like this movie because it's about the crazy times, the hard times, and all the moments in between while being pregnant. You don't have to have kids to like this movie, or even be an adult to enjoy it.

Jennifer Lopez shines in this role as does her co-star- Alex O'Loughlin. This movie is great for a rainy day or just a fun Friday night. Is it worth to see in theatres? Not really. Your best bet is to rent it when it comes out to DVD/Blu-Ray.

I was so looking forward to this movie but it was absolutely so disappointing, not at all Jennifer Lopez's standard. Normally her movies are quite good and will stand the test of time but this one was so disappointing that I felt embarrassed for her, definitely worth a Razzie, but hey the year is still young, look at Sandra Bullock....Jennifer still has time to win an Oscar!! Just look at Sandra Bullock!

The first few minutes were actually quite good but after 10 minutes, I felt none of them delivered, except the DOG! It was actually quite good. The supporting cast was terrible. They were just standing around delivering lines.

This movie was so bad I made a point of looking up who directed it, because if this movie actually turns a profit, it just shows you with proper advertising and a celebrity you truly can make money out of garbage.

The plot was so bad that in any aspects if you question the realism the movie would fail miserably.

Example Jay-Lo get artificially inseminated and that same day she meets a dude, within the first date she is questioning her insemination (great mother put a lot of thought into this $10,000 procedure) and Within date #2! the dude is in a fully committed relationship with loopy Jay-Lo ready to be a father of her unborn baby with no father, he drops out of school and before you know it he's living with her.

The movie was so bad it became a topic of humor only because it was really that bad, you could criticize every aspect of this horrible money pit. Not only did I feel ripped of watching this, (and I did see this with a free pass), 1.5 hours of my life I will never get back. Even my chic couldn't believe how bad it was. Well It's my turn on the next pick and this time she's going to get it I hear "Martyrs" is a great movie, she's going to think twice before she pulls me into another flick remotely as bad as this.

PS this would have been a "1" if not for the slight glimpse of Jay-Lo in a g-String, and yes I know that was probably a body double.